Patna

Rashtriya Janata Dal founder Lalu Prasad on Wednesday gave a pep talk to workers of his party, which has been out of power in Bihar for nearly two decades, reminding them "we have been fighters and shall continue to fight".

The septuagenarian, who now spends most of his time indoors because of various health issues, visited the party office for a function organised ahead of the RJD's 30th foundation day on July 5.

A large number of supporters turned up at the RJD's Bir Chand Patel Marg office in Patna to catch a glimpse of their leader, who is considered the biggest crowd puller among political leaders of his generation.

The former Bihar chief minister, who was accompanied by his younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD's working president, spoke for barely a few minutes, in a weak voice, while sitting on a chair.

"We must remember RJD is known for putting up a fight and our fight must continue", said Prasad, in an obvious bid to boost the morale of the party which suffered a huge drubbing in the assembly polls held last year, when it won only 25 seats of the 243-strong House.

Notably, the RJD was formed in 1997 following a split in the Janata Dal formed by the late VP Singh. The party was ousted from power in Bihar in 2005 when it was defeated by the NDA, headed in Bihar by Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) supremo.

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Since then, RJD has enjoyed power for a couple of brief spells, thanks to short-lived alliances with JD(U).